5ish - The Name's Eye, GoldenEye
My first video game console was a Nintendo Entertainment System. My most-used video game console was probably the Super Nintendo. But the actual game I played the most in my childhood was on neither of these. It was on the Nintendo 64. GoldenEye 007. And it’s back. (Re)launching today on both the Xbox and Nintendo Switch, it’s a port of the classic. The Xbox version brings visual upgrades while the Switch version brings online multiplayer. The amount of hours lost this weekend for a certain cohort of children born in the 1980s and 1990s will be endless. It’s a funny thing. Most adaptations of movies into games were bad (and vice versa used to be the case too, though both have changed in recent years). And while GoldenEye is a decent enough James Bond movie, I believe Pierce Brosnan’s best, it’s not one of the most iconic ones. And the game came out nearly two years after the film. Hell, it was released just a few months before the next Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies. But the game was just in the right place, right time to work, with the right team making it. Rare, a British firm (later acquired by Microsoft), had had huge success with Donkey Kong Country on Super Nintendo, and was able to take advantage of the 3D graphics and crucially, four controller ports, on the Nintendo 64 to make GoldenEye 007 a phenomenon. The third highest-selling game on the console behind just Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64. My friend Brad who lived up the street from me had what was at the time, a truly massive 60”+ TV in his basement. And four controllers. The amount of hours lost playing that game in that basement now baffles the mind. The Good Stuff🛟 The Inner RingThis essay is not new. It is from 1944. It wasn’t even an essay at first, but a speech, given by C.S. Lewis at his Memorial Lecture at King’s College in London. But it’s fantastic. It rings just as true today, on so many levels. Scoundrels abound. 💆♀️ On Self-RespectOn the topics of great essays of yesteryear, here’s Joan Didion writing on the notion of self-respect in 1961. It’s just outstanding writing. And she wrote it at the last-minute after another author failed to file their own essay on the topic. And she wrote it to an exact character count. ✍️ Putting Ideas into WordsStaying on the topic of essays, but switching to something more contemporary, here’s Paul Graham on the power of writing to clarify your own thoughts. This is more or less how I live my life and have for decades now. And this doesn’t just mean publishing your words. Sadly, a lot of this practice for me in recent years has been in the form of emails. 💲 ‘Economists Can’t Predict the Effects of New Technologies’A good interview with economist Tyler Cowen. You’ll note that he credits blogging for his success and, per above, that while reading (and conversation) are great for gathering information, it’s only through writing that you’re forced to decide what you actually think about something. He also wants an AI chatbot to come along that will help him effectively live forever. 💩 The Shit ShowSwitching things up, Craig Hockenberry gives his raw, painful assessment of the current state of Twitter — and more specifically, the Twitter ecosystem. His Iconfactory birthed not just Twitterrific, but also the notion of a Twitter bird and the word “tweet”. They also, of course, make several other apps. I personally love Tot (a simple note-taking app — on my homescreen!) and Wallaroo (a wallpaper app). RIP Twitterrific. “Everyone who retires from surfing just goes surfing more." — Kelly Slater, who is now 50, on what he’ll do if he ever retires. The Quick Stuff
Speaking of Nintendo…I have never felt so old… My Stuff🌅 A Sunrise That I Know I’ll Never SeeA few quick thoughts on ‘Andor’… 🦣 Mastodon Brought a Protocol to a Product FightMastodon vs. Twitter? Come on… 📖 Daunt is Righting the Barnes & Noble ShipJames Daunt does it again… 🏈 The Cute and the CuriousMichigan’s playcallers fucked around, found out… ⌚️ Minimum Viable TechnologyA time, perhaps, for Apple Watch owners to lay down their iPhones… This will take some getting used to… |
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...And Back Again
Monday, January 9, 2023
Welcome to 2023. Just back from vacation chasing a small child around Australia and New Zealand for a few weeks. Not too much downtime but I was able to get quite a bit of reading done in the small
'22
Friday, December 16, 2022
With the holidays fast approaching, I thought I'd use this opportunity to clear out a bunch of links I had saved over the past year-ish. I'll be heading off on an adventure next week —
Roasted Turkey
Wednesday, November 23, 2022
A warm Thanksgiving greeting...
The Clown Car Is Back, Baby
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
How are things at Twitter? Great, thank you! Also, don't ask. Never ask.
A Total Twitshow
Tuesday, November 8, 2022
We're way beyond clown cars and gold mines now...
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